Russell: Prior will be fine

Jack Russell is confident that Matt Prior's window-smashing incident at Lord's will not distract him from helping England complete a series victory over Sri Lanka at the Rose Bowl this week.

England head into the final Test of the three-match series with a 1-0 lead having failed to beat the tourists in last week's second match at Lord's. The final day of the Test in north-west London was overshadowed by Prior accidentally smashing a window in the home changing room after he was run out for four.

The furore surrounding the incident may have made the headlines last week but according to Russell, the episode will not be playing on the stumper's mind when he tries to keep up his good form in this week's third Test, which starts at Southampton on Thursday. He said: "I don't think a pane of glass will knock England off course. It definitely won't knock Matt Prior off course."

He added: "I don't think it will affect him. Matt is too strong a character and the set-up is too sensible. He will just forget about it."

The England and Wales Cricket Board were quick to play down the incident and Prior himself apologised to the female student who was injured.

Russell, who won 54 caps behind the stumps for England, sympathises with Prior over what happened and said he had seen much worse incidents during his 10-year international career.

"It was fortunate that no-one got (seriously) injured but we have all done worse than that," said Russell, who was speaking at the launch of the Brit Insurance National Cricket Day at Lord's.

"We have all smashed our cricket case up or bashed our kit about.

"Some players were never like that. Graham Gooch used to come in and lay his bat down and that would be it.

"Some people have that great mental discipline but when I was playing I was like a kettle boiling in that time between losing my wicket and getting to the dressing room. The volcano would just build and build and build. The lads just used to clear away and give me a minute because I was angry."